Indian Cricket Team: The Indian Cricket Team had a shambolic outing versus New Zealand, as the tourists secured a historic 3-0 series whitewash on Indian soil. Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, the Men in Blue suffered an embarrassing home Test-Series defeat, putting their hopes of qualifying for the WTC 2023-2025 cycle final in jeopardy.
The poor batting form of the Indians was the main reason behind their team’s downfall versus the Tom Latham-led team. While the duo of Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant tried their best to show resistance versus the fabulous bowling display of the Kiwis, their team mates were not able to put up a fight on the spinner-friendly surfaces.
The home side didn’t look comfortable at all verus New Zealand’s excellent spin bowling, which allowed the tourists to register a historic Test-Series win on Indian-Soil after a really long period of time.
As a result, keeping in mind the massive importance the Border Gavaskar Trophy holds for the Men in Blue, the Indian team management might be looking to make some tough decisions to keep their hopes of qualifying for the WTC Final alive. In such a case, we will take a look at three players who might not get a chance to play in the first Test-Match versus Australia in Perth.
Three Indian Players Who Might Get Dropped From The Playing 11 in Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024:
- Ravichandran Ashwin
Since making his Test debut in 2011, Ashwin has played an important role with the ball for India in the longest format of the game, helping them win countless number of series. However, the 38-year-old wasn’t at his best in the New Zealand Test-Series, with off spinner Washington Sundar out-performing him on the spinner-friendly decks.
Besides providing batting-depth to the Men in Blue, Sundar’s ability to generate over-spin makes him a strong contender to play in the first Test-Match in Perth. The seamer friendly conditions of Australia won’t allow the Rohit Sharma-led team to go ahead with three spin bowlers, so with Ravi Jadeja likely to retain his place, the Indian team management might give the preference to the in-form Sundar over Ashwin for the role of the second all-rounder.
- Sarfaraz Khan
Known for his consisten displays with the bat in Domestic Cricket, Sarfaraz Khan won the Indian Team-Management’s trust following a remarkable century he scored in the 1st Test-Match of the series in Bengaluru. However, he wasn’t able to maintain his consistency, recording embarrassing scores in the subsequent matches in the cities of Pune and Mumbai.
Therefore, considering his vulnerability versus Pacers and seam-movement, the Men in Blue might consider dropping Khan in favour of KL Rahul for the first Test-Match in Perth. The 32-year-old has also been asked to take part in India A’s second-unofficial Test-Match versus Australia A in order to prepare for the forthcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024. So, it’s highly likely that the former LSG skipper will replace the 27-year-old in the playing 11 for the first Test-Match.
- Mohammed Siraj
Fast Bowler Mohammed Siraj had a wonderful start in 2024 with the ball, recording a remarkable six-wicket haul versus South Africa in the Cape Town Test-Match. However, since that fixture, the 30-year-old has been poor with the ball, managing to dismiss just 13 batters at a horrendous bowling average of 48.46 in the five-day format.
So, with Bumrah making his comeback to the Playing 11 and seamer Akash Deep performing well as the second fast bowler, the tourists might think of swapping Siraj with a bowler who can hit the deck hard like Prasidh Krishna or Harshit Rana for the Perth Test-Match. Both of them can use the bouncy Perth deck to their advantage and make things difficult for the Aussie batters.